Mum pays tribute to Britain's Got Talent star who died aged 34
Chantel Bellew, from Widnes, "always had a smile on her face" before her mental health took a downwards turn, the Liverpool Echo reported.
The 34-year-old, who appeared on the 2019 edition of Britain's Got Talent contest and wowed the judges with her performance, died on March 22 this year.
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Her mum Jill Dawson told the Echo: "There are many girls who do dance and you're not always going to be a star. They go out dancing week on week and some never make it, but Chantel did, and she should be doing it now. That's what's so devastating.
"It has not just shocked people in Widnes, it has shocked a lot of people in the dancing community. She always had a smile on her face.
"Chantel was always the first one up at a party. Everybody said she just sparkled. She has friends who are grieving terribly. We're all broken.
Chantel's love of showbusiness began when she was just three years old, when she joined a Morris dancing club. She later joined a professional dance school for tap and ballet.
She bagged her first leading role in a production of Grease at The Bankfield School, where she played heroine Sandy.
Following a successful audition, Chantel spent three years at The Hammond, honing her dancing and singing skills. She went on to perform on various cruise liners, as well as musicals productions including Top Hat, Scrooge, and White Christmas.
Jill said: "When she went on her first cruise liner she was a dancer, but Chantel could tap, sing and perform. So when she went on the next ship she went as a singer.
"That was Chantel. She had that much in her. She was very loving, caring for everybody, and always had a smile on her face when she was in that performing time of her life. Dancing was her world."
Chantel, who lived in Atherton, Wigan, appeared on ITV's Britain's Got Talent in 2019 with a military-themed group dance routine, backed up by male dancers from The Holland.
She narrowly missed out on the semi-finals, losing the crown to 89-year-old war veteran Colin Thackery.
She returned to Widnes, where she started her own stage school, Chantel Bellew Workshops, teaching children to sing and tap dance.
Sadly, Jill said the last years of her daughter's life "had not been kind to her" as her mental health took a turn for the worse. In November 2019, she was admitted to a unit as an inpatient during the Covid-19 lockdown.
She was rushed to hospital on March 17 this year after taking an overdose of painkillers, the MEN reported. The 34-year-old was found at home by her wife Genna Timewell, who said she was "walking very unsteadily and looking disorientated".
Ms Timewell called 999, then drove Chantel to Royal Bolton Hospital herself after being told an ambulance would take 40 minutes to arrive.
Her condition deteriorated and she was transferred to St James University Hospital in Leeds for specialist treatment, where she died on March 22.
Jill said: "She came to visit me one day and I thought she had bipolar because of the way she was eating, the way she couldn't look at me in the eye when she was talking, the way she was drinking her tea. I knew there was something wrong.
"Chantel was bubbly before all this. Very caring. She would always listen to people. She loved teaching children. Dance was her life."
"Her childhood dream was to star in 42nd Street (the musical) and she got to do it in Paris. I went to see her. I went to watch the show when I arrived on Christmas Eve and we spent Christmas Day in Disneyland Paris. It was amazing.
"My daughter had reached a goal she had since she was eight. That's all she wanted to do and I'm so glad she got that. It wasn't a dream in the end, it was reality.
"As a family we're so proud of her. Not many people in life get to make their dream come true and she did."
At an inquest at Bolton Coroner's Court last month, coroner John Pollard said Chantel "took the excess of tablets knowing the outcome would almost certainly be fatal and that she deliberately did so... when she knew that Genna was not there to stop her". He handed down a conclusion of suicide.
Jill said that, though she did not dispute that her daughter took her own life, she thought the inquest was "one-sided" and she believed she had not had the opportunity to speak at length about Chantel's life.
She said: "It has been absolutely devastating and our lives will never been the same. I watched my daughter in a coma for two days, fighting for her life. I've had to stop working after 11 years due to it. I can't function right. My life is broken.
"A lot of friends are still grieving. People are saying 'what happened?' She had such sparkle. She brightened up every room. I just want people to know there's always help out there."
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